Orthorexia in Men and Women

Several years ago Dr. Steven Bratman coined the term "orthorexia" to describe men and women who are obsessed with eating right. "Orthorexics" are likely to avoid fat, count calories, take nutritional supplements, and read health information—even about conditions they do not have and could not have—with far more dedication than the average person. Since many people in this category spend as much as US $2,000 a month on herbs, vitamins, minerals, and nutritional supplements, the natural health industry encourages intense interest in natural health news, and finds no shortage of "orthorexic" customers.

Dr. Bratman chose the Greek term "ortho-" meaning "right" or "correct" to make the term parallel to anorexia nervosa, or failure to eat. Orthorexia nervosa, as Bratman originally called it, is an unhealthy obsession for eating healthy food. Just because an activity is usually healthy, Dr. Bratman explains, does not mean that an intense focus on food or exercise or work is always healthy.

Just before Dr. Bratman published his book Health Food Junkies, he met a woman named Kate Finn, who had overcome an obsession with eating raw foods that had threatened her health. She had not wanted to be thin. She was not afraid of being fat. She just wanted to eat what she had been led to believe was healthy food in healthy amounts. Unfortunately, Finn later died of congestive heart failure caused by protein deprivation she incurred while pursuing her "healthy diet."

Since Finn's death in 2003, Bratman has become a mainstream messenger against addictions to healthy food. If one is "eating healthy," but appears emaciated, there may not be a problem with anorexia nervosa, but there can be a problem that ends in death.

What Goes Wrong in "Orthorexia?"

Orthorexia nervosa is not and will not be listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental illness. So what really goes wrong in "orthorexia?"

• People who have chronic health problems often try to treat "leaky gut syndrome." Doctors do not know how to answer their concerns, so they turn to alternative health experts who tell them to cut out beef, dairy, wheat, soy, tomatoes, citrus, and chocolate, and to look for even more foods to exclude.
• Athletes devoted to maximizing muscle mass and sports performance sometimes get into the mode of "eating healthy or not at all." Fat percentages fall to near zero, and any condition that interferes with continued eating, such as diarrhea, an injury to the digestive tract in an accident, or surgery can result in permanent muscle loss. A well-known college football in Louisiana, for instance, was very proud of his 1% body fat. After a auto crash put him in an intensive care unit on a ventilator for a week, however, he lost so much muscle mass in his legs he is no longer able to walk.
• Bulimics are usually counseled to eat less, with no one checking to make sure they eat enough.

These are just a few of the possible triggers for this unhealthy change in eating habits. Orthorexia is not a "real disease," but the net effect of avoiding food can be literal starvation. So what can you do for the "orthorexics" you know and love, or perhaps for yourself?

• Plan your diet on the principle that there are no universally good or bad foods. Some expert's list of healthy foods may not be healthy for you, but a list of unhealthy foods is not necessarily unhealthy for you. Try the foods you want to eat and see what kinds of results you get. Healthy food does not have to be raw, cooked, vegan, meat-based, high-fat, low-fat, high-protein, or low-protein, or fit any other description.
• Plan your diet on the principle that "the proof is in the pudding," or results are what count. If you are healthy when you eat a food, it's healthy for you.
• Choose a diet that provides all the nutrients your body needs and stick to it. While it sounds like a good idea to let food be your medicine, medicine can be your medicine, too.